


A Broken Man

by nerdyhawaiian



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Breaking Up & Making Up, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Insecure Tony, M/M, its a temporary thing, though they barely break up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-17
Updated: 2017-01-17
Packaged: 2018-09-18 05:03:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9369140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nerdyhawaiian/pseuds/nerdyhawaiian
Summary: Tony can't believe how lucky he is to be in love with Steve Rogers, but a fight with Dr. Doom may just ruin it all.Sorry I'm bad at summaries





	

Waking up next to someone he loves is a new experience for Tony Stark. That person being Captain America makes it even more unbelievable. How he cot to be so lucky he will never know. He was a broken man, with a messed up childhood, a piece of (amazing) tech keeping him alive, and nightmares keeping him awake most nights. With all that crap, he was still able to get Steve to fall for him. He constantly finds himself waiting for the day that Steve is tired of dealing with his cram and leaves him, even though Steve swears that will never happen. Tony has had too much experience to know that even though Steve may believe that now, eventually Tony will fuck it up and ruin the best thing that has ever happened to him.

The body lying next to him rolls over giving Tony a view of Steve’s adorable bedhead and strong chest. “You’re thinking too loud, go back to sleep.”

Tony let out a small chuckle. “Aren’t you usually the one to force me to get out of bed in the morning?” He crawls closer to Steve to give a quick kiss to the sleep soldier.

“On most days, yet. But today we both have off, which means I want to stay in this bed with you for as long as possible.” As if to prove his point, Steve rolls them both over so that Tony is trapped beneath him. He begins kissing Tony on the forehead, then the cheek and finally the lips. This kiss is not a simple morning kiss, this one has intent behind it.

Tony breaks away to breathe and Steve continues by assaulting Tony’s neck. “Is that a promise?” Instead of answering, Steve continues down Tony’s body. Tony, following Steve’s train of thought, begins to get riled up, his back slightly arching off the mattress. Right as Steve reaches the waistband on his underwear, the Avenger Assemble alarm goes off.

“Are you fucking kidding me?!”

Steve groans but gets up. “Well there goes our day off.”

“I’m going to blast whoever the fuck it is that is ruining our plans into another galaxy and then we are going to start where we left off.”

Steve leans over and gives Tony a quick peck. “First, we’ll deal with situation. Then, we can resume. Get suited up, we’ll meet you out there.”

Tony found the bracelets that would call the Mark XII to him and headed out to the balcony. He pressed the buttons and jumped. He felt a few seconds of freefall before the safety of the suit wrapped around him.

“Sir, the disturbance seems to be coming from 15 blocks north of your current location.”

“Thanks JARVIS. Any reports as to what we’re facing?”

“Reports state that it appears DoomBots are attacking civilians.”

Fucking Doom, Tony thinks. “Patch me into the team comms.”

“You are connected.”

“Cap, I’m 5 blocks out what is your ETA?”

“Black Widow, Hawkeye, Thor and I will be there in 5 minutes. Do you have a visual?”

“One moment.” Tony finally reached the destination. “There appears to be 6 DoomBots, no sign of Doom but we have to assume that he’s nearby. Any word if the Fantastic 4 will be joining us?”

“They’re out of the country right now. We’re reaching the area now. Hawkeye will take position on the roof of the nearest building and be our eyes. The rest of us will fight the bots. Tony you need to get eyes on Doom. Can you track him?”

“He’s controlling them through a remote wireless system. If I can track the signal I should be able to get his location.”

“Good do that, let me know when you have a location.” With that Tony muted the Comm only permitting specific orders directed to him to make it through.

“JARVIS, can we get a lock on the radio signal Doom is using?”

“Yes, I’m working the algorithm now. Should I patch the Captain in when I have a location?”

Tony thought about it, he knows that when he and Steve first began their relationship that they agree that in the field Tony would stop making bold (or Steve’s words “stupid”) decisions in the field and listen to orders and be a better teammate but he didn’t want to put them in danger either. If the team had dealt with all the DoomBots he will have them help, but if they were still fighting he didn’t want to leave them vulnerable by taking away a teammate. “First, let’s find him and then we’ll figure it out.

A few minutes pass when finally “Sir, I have a location, he’s located on the street 3 blocks south of your current location.”

Tony opens the comms. “Cap, how’s it going on your end?”

“We’re down to 3 bots but these are more advanced, they’re not going down as easily as his others. Have you located Doom yet?”

Tony decides at that moment that he can handle Doom on his own. It sounds like the team needs to focus on the Bots. He can handle Doom, he’s done it alone before. “Almost got it, I’ll let you know when I do.”

Something in Tony’s voice must’ve given something away. “Don’t do anything stupid.”

“I’m a genius, Cap. I could never do something stupid.”

“Right, keep me posted.”

Tony cut off the comm. “JARVIS open up a channel to Hawkeye only.”

“Channel open.” Tony knew that Clint would be able to understand his plan even if it was stupid.

“Hawkeye can you hear me.”

“Sure, Tony.”

“This is a closed channel its just the two of us.”

“You’re going to do something stupid aren’t you?”

“No,” Tony paused before continuing, “OK maybe. I’ve found Doom 3 blocks south. When they’ve taken out the last Bot give them my location.”

“This is stupid, but sure. Though it won’t take long they’re down to one.”

“Ok, got business to do.”

Tony flies down and sees Doom. He lands right in front of him. “Doom, what’s your plan this time? You’re not attacking a particular building what do you want?”

“Ah, just the Avenger I was looking for. Did you not think it was easy finding me? The bots were a distraction, you are my target.”

“Well, I’m here. What do you want?”

“To stop the Avengers, of course.” Doom takes out a device and detonates an EMP burst, luckily Tony put safeguards around the Arc reactor so that won’t stop working but the suit isn’t so lucky. Tony was now trapped in it, with it being too heavy to move without mechanical help. “You see, you’re the genius behind it all. Take you out, take the team out.” Doom pulls out a gun but it’s obviously been adjusted in some way. “Now I could kill you but that’s not nearly as fun. I’d rather see you tear the avengers down on your own.”

Doom raises the gun and Tony embraces for the hit but before it happens he is shoved to the side. Tony turns and watches as Steve takes the hit meant for him. Steve staggers a little but is up and taking down Doom with the help of the other Avengers. In the midst of the fighting, somehow Doom slips through their grip and is gone.

Steve looks frustrated but turns to Tony. “Tony, are you ok?”

“Suit is out of commission. Can you help me out of it? Do you remember where the clasps are?”

“Yes.” With that Steve helps Tony out of the suit. After a few minutes Tony is free of his Iron Prison.

He immediately checks over Steve. “Are you ok? You were hit by Doom’s device. Do you feel anything?”

Steve refuses to meet Tony’s eyes. “I’m fine.”

“Are you sure? You should get checked out.”

“I said, I’m fine!” Steve yells. “Clint’s bringing the Quinjet. We’ll talk when we get to the tower.”

Tony doesn’t like the sound of that. He stands there quietly, stealing glances at Steve. The man is actively avoiding Tony. It’s amazing how different things can be after only an hour. The Quinjet arrives and Tony quietly enters. Clint attempts to make a joke but Tony’s not listening. Just this morning he was worrying about fucking things over with Steve and look what happens.

They land and go to the communal floor. Tony hopes this means that it won’t be too bad but the second they reach the living room Steve turns on him.

“What the fuck was that out there?” That instantly stops Tony in his tracks. Steve never swears. The only time Tony has ever heard him come close was when they were in bed together.

“I didn’t want to distract you guys and be the cause of someone getting hurt. I thought I could handle it.”

“Well you were wrong. You got in over your head and I had to go and rescue you. You’re pathetic. You can’t even take out Doom on your own.”

“Steve, calm down.” Natasha said walking over to him.

“Not now!” He yelled at her. This whole thing was putting Tony on edge. He’d never seen Steve like this before. His wrath was being focus on Tony again. “You don’t deserve to be an Avenger. You don’t understand how to be a part of a team and you are by far the weakest link.”

If felt as if all the air was being sucked out of his lungs. He can’t mean that. Hadn’t they spent hours talking about how Steve felt safer knowing Tony was flying above him, knowing he had Tony as a teammate. “Babe, you don’t mean that, Do you?”

“Yes, and don't call me that. I fucking hate that nickname. Sometimes I wonder why we’re even in a relationship. Way to much of my energy is put into it and you give nothing in return.”

Tears sprung up into Tony’s eyes but he refused to let them fall. “What are you trying to say?” He knew where this was going but he still needed to hear it from Steve. He needed to remember this so he doesn’t allow it to happen again. So he doesn’t open his heart up only to have it crushed by the reminder that he’s not worthy of anyone’s love.

“I’m saying that I’m done with you. I’m done with being with someone who is broken and unfixable. Don’t taking care of someone who doesn’t deserve it. I’m done with you.”

Tony wishes that he could fight back but what he said was true. Steve deserves someone whole who can give as much as he gets. He deserves better. “I’m sorry. I’ll go now. Just know that I do love you. Thank you for the time you did give me. Tony turned and headed to the elevator, not letting the tears fall until he stepped inside. Part of him acknowledged the sound of something heavy falling, but he didn’t care.

As if he was on autopilot he found himself in his workshop with no recollection of actually walking inside. Dummy is there in front of him with a box of tissues. “Thanks Buddy. I should’ve seen this coming. It was stupid of me to think that someone as good and as special as Steve would ever be with someone as broken as me. He’s a strong soldier and I’m an inventor with a mechanical heart and PTSD. I knew this would end but I hoped I’d be wrong.” With that Tony curled up on the couch and cried until the relief of sleep over took him.

\------------

A few hours later, Tony felt himself being shook awake. He hoped that when he opened his eyes he’d find it all to be a dream and he was still in bed with Steve, but when he opened them he was met with the green eyes of Bruce instead of the blue of Steve.

“What do you want?”

“Tony, Steve’s in the medical wing.”

“Tony sat up quickly. “What?!” Regardless of what happened between the two of them, he still loved him. “What happened?”

“After you left, Steve collapsed. They did some tests and found high levels of a toxin in his system. This toxin impacted the part of the brain that controls emotions, forcing him into a rage filled state. It also targeted the speech/language center-”

“Engineer, here. Use different language. I’m too tired to pay attention to understand.”

“The blast from Doom made Steve pissed off and say and yell things he didn’t mean.”

“Oh,” Tony can’t think of anything else to say. Does that mean Steve didn’t mean to say what he said? Regardless, what he said was true. Every bid of it. “You said he passed out, is he ok?”

“Apparently he was trying to fight off the toxins. The strain of doing so led to his collapse. He’s in the med win while they get the toxin out of his system. Though it’s been hard keeping him there.”

“Why?”

“He’s been asking about you. He remembers what he said and wants to talk to you. He only agreed to stay if I promised to get you.”

Tony’s not sure if he wants to go. A large part of him wants to make sure Steve is ok, but part is afraid of what he’ll say. Bruce said Steve couldn’t control what he was saying but how would he know what to say if the thoughts weren’t already in his mind. Tony was mulling it over but he knew seeing Steve was unavoidable. So he got up and followed Bruce out the door. His heart was already broken, what else could happen.

\------------

Tony found himself standing outside Steve’s room struggling to find the courage to open the door. The other Avengers were there and he could feel their stares. After 5 min, Clint apparently couldn’t take it anymore and Tony was being shoved through the door.

Steve was sitting up in the bed hooked up to an IV, when Tony entered the room he looked up and the look he gave him broke his heart again. There was so much sadness and shame in those blue eyes. Tony could only imaging what he looked like if this was how Steve looked.

The silence stretched out until finally Steve spoke. “I’m so sorry Tony. I know what I said to you was inexcusable but I swear I couldn’t stop myself. It was like I had no control of myself. Everytime I tried to stop myself another hurtful thing would come out of my mouth. I know what I said was horrible but I’m so sorry. I know I don’t deserve it but please say you’ll forgive me.” While Steve spoke tears began to freely fall down his face. Tony wanted nothing more than to wipe the tears from his face but he found himself rooted to the spot.

He dropped his gaze to the floor before responding. “There’s nothing to forgive. I understand you had no control, but it doesn’t change the fact that everything you said was true. I don’t deserve to be an Avenger and I sure as hell don’t deserve you. You deserve someone better than a broken man.”

Tony hears Steve move and the next Steve has his hands on either side of Tony’s face, forcing him to look up. “Don’t you dare think that. That is the farthest from the truth. You’re a key part of our team. I feel safer when you are there fighting alongside me. You keep us together. And before you think it. We need Tony Stark, not just Iron Man or the genius behind the tech, but the whole man. All of the above and more.”

Tony began to smile but was brought back by another thought. “Even if that’s true it doesn’t change the fact that you deserve to be in a relationship with someone who isn’t broken.”

“You’re not broken. You have a tough past but it has made you the man you are today. The man that is always there for me even when he is too busy with work. The man that holds me when my nightmares return. The man that makes me feel whole. We both have difficult pasts but I plan on having a long and happy future with you.”

Tony had tears freely falling at this point. He leaned forward and connected his lips with Steve’s, pouring all his emotions into it. “I Love you.”

“I love you too. If I ever start saying anything different you have my full permission to kick my ass because the only way that will happen is if I have evil toxins in my blood or I’m switched out with an evil robot.”

“Don’t jinx us, that’s totally a possibility.” With that Tony kissed Steve again. He knew that he would need to get over his issues but as long as he had Steve they would work together to fix them. And having Steve by his side will always be enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. Please let me know if there are any other tags I should add. I'm really bad at tagging.


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